Wenger's war cry kick-starts great escape

"We won 't give up," Arsène Wenger said defiantly on a freezing cold October night in Kiev.

His side were lying bottom of Group B with a single point from three games. They had been humiliated in their Champions League opener at Highbury by Internazionale - Julio Cruz, Andy van der Meyde and Obafemi Martins all picking through the defensive holes before half-time. They then failed to score away to Lokomotiv Moscow before the 2-1 defeat to Dynamo Kiev on that late October night at the Olimpyskyi Stadium and Wenger made his war cry - or as close as he gets to one.

Yet still the Frenchman, who focuses so much of his managerial energy on building an impenetrable team spirit, refused to turn on his underperforming players. "I can't fault their efforts and I'm not here to blame those who make mistakes. Now we need to win the next game [against Dynamo Kiev at Highbury in November] and see where we go from there."

That they did, somewhat unconvincingly, with a late Ashley Cole strike - "Kiev was the turning point," said Wenger last night - before the Gunners travelled to Milan and really warmed to their task.

Five goals later, with Thierry Henry once again the rocket- fuelled catalyst, and Wenger's side had done the hard yards. All that was left was yesterday's return leg against Lokomotiv at Highbury, just the type of fixture they have managed to blow in recent years.

"We lost 3-0 here to Inter and won 5-1 over there so it shows how quickly the game can change at this level," Wenger, pictured, explained.

"It became a strange game when [Lokomotiv] had a player sent off but we have a lot of players who have good experience; they kept their concentration high and once we got the second goal the game was over," he added before quickly returning to his favourite topic, the form of his outstanding French striker.

"Thierry gave two great balls. He is a tremendous player and he showed he can provide and score goals."

Just how they started Europe's premier experience so poorly when their domestic form had been imperious was the confusing issue rather than the comfortable way they cruised through to the knockout stages, topping the table with a two-point margin.

"I can't explain it, why we didn't play well at the beginning," said Freddie Ljungberg, the scorer of last night's second goal, "but we started to fight a bit more for each other in the second half of the group and got the results as well. Winning 5-1 in Milan gave us the self-belief we didn't have before.

"We didn't play well to begin with but now we're fighting for each other and we've got through."

And their chances now? "We feel we have more experience in the Champions League," said Wenger. "The players are more mature. It's good for us to go through; now we can focus on the [Premiership] and hopefully come back to winning habits. Let's see what we can do in the next round."

Ljungberg was similarly grounded despite the Gunners' incredible act of escapology. "We don't want to be big-headed," the Sweden international said. "We'll take it one game at a time and try and do a lot better than we have done before."